Media

February 27, 2009

In the South we call it a "country good-bye," that long, drawn out, lingering at the door, endlessly recapping conversation that happens when people need to hit the road, but would really rather stay and keep visiting.

We'll spare you the Gold Rush version of this co-dependent social interaction.

The blog, started 16 months ago, is going on hiatus after nearly 1,000 posts and coverage of events big and small. It bowled right through Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, MTV Movie Awards, Bravo's A-list, every Spike sci-fi and video game kudofest, country music lovefest and BET thank-God-fest.

Wasn't that fun? And wasn't it awesome that the best picture really did win the Academy Award this year?

Never mind that it pretty clearly says, "Year-Round Awards Blog" right up there on the masthead. The times they are a-changin' -- and that logo will have to change with them.

A number of awards blogs are seasonal, and THR is joining those ranks, planning to bring Gold Rush back in the fall in time for the launch of multimillion-dollar awards campaigns for, oh who knows, Quentin Tarantino's Nazi hunt, "Inglourious Basterds," Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's "Shutter Island," Johnny Depp's mobster drama, "Public Enemies," or Peter Jackson's much-anticipated version of "The Lovely Bones."

Plenty of movies to look forward to this year -- the next "Twilight!" "Monsters vs. Aliens!" -- and the boxoffice is already off to an amazing start (we're referring to this as the "Paul Blart" Effect). Oscar season 2010 should be packed, packed, with worthy choices and, if we're lucky, at least a few contenders, a la "The Reader," for us to hate on.

Until then, you can always read our voluminous archives. Just kidding. May we suggest a daily dose of Risky Business for your movie fix and The Live Feed for all-things-television. And, keeping it in the Nielsen family, we'll be spouting on BrandFreak, where you can keep up on quirky, weird, effective and lousy tactics that corporate America uses to get you to buy stuff you don't need. Unless, of course, it's entertainment. We all need that right now, maybe more than ever.

Someone dressed up like The Joker -- Heath Ledger's version -- and another did a Richard Nixon impression of sorts, but with the "Frost/Nixon" character played as a winged monkey. You see, it was a "Wizard of Oz"/Oscar tribute/mashup at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Burbank on Sunday dubbed "Oscar Extravaganza."

Say, does the Academy know about this. No, really. Or do next year's producers need a head start on ideas?

Because so many industry folks live in the area, home to and frequent butt of "The Tonight Show" jokes going back decades, the church has had an annual ritual of putting on a live show Oscar morning. The goal is to acknowledge Burbank as a company town and, at the same time, put the whole awards grab in perspective, pastor Paul Clairville told The Burbank Leader.

It's also to honor the most-thanked individual in Oscar history -- God. (Hey, isn't that an Aussie drinking game?)

This was the seventh year for the Oscar-centric service. Quick question: does the studio exec involved, identified in the paper as working in "rights and clearance," not know just how picky Oscar is about his trademark? Seems odd. And ironic. And hilarious.

If we'd been there ourselves, and we so wish we had, we couldn't have come up with a scene setter like this:

"The performance ended with a song in honor of Jesus, before the congregation stood and sang along as the church's garage band played a punk rock song about God that had attendees tapping their feet and bobbing their heads to the sounds of drums and electric guitars."

Not sure what's better here, the actual event or the description of it. Ah, community journalism (at a paper that's owned by the Los Angeles Times).

Check here for the full story -- with photos! -- here for a video of the sermon (but not the show) and here for a local columnist's observations. Now go in peace.

February 26, 2009

The adorable young actors from "Slumdog Millionaire" might've gotten a less than gracious introduction to Hollywood from the likes of Ryan Seacrest -- describe how you're feeling, in English! -- but they had a hero's welcome back home in Mumbai.

The celebration swept up Azharuddin Ismail (youngest Salim, pictured above) when he and other cast members of the eight-time Oscar-winning love story arrived at the city airport near the Behrampada slums where they live.

Update on Ismail and Rubina Ali (who played the youngest Latika): They'll be moving from their lean-tos to real homes soon, courtesy of the Indian government.

"These two children have brought laurels to the country, and we have been told that they live in slums, which cannot even be classified as housing," a state-run housing authority exec told the AP.

This photo of Ali was taken before she dissolved into tears (not Kate Winslet style), apparently overwhelmed at all the attention and hundreds of well-wishers that mobbed the kids. Give her a break -- she could probably really use a nap.

Fox Searchlight paid to bring the cast to L.A. for the Oscars on Sunday -- where the rags-to-riches "Who Wants to be a Millionaire"-based tale snagged best picture, best director and best adapted screenplay, among other prizes -- and had to defend against a pseudo-backlash in the weeks before the awards about treatment and pay for the young stars. And, oh yeah, those ridiculous "poverty porn" accusations.

Because of their roles in "Slumdog," Ismail and Ali are enrolled in school for the first time, have funds set up for their future education, medical and living costs.

Meanwhile, the movie's nearing $100 million at the boxoffice and will expand to more than 2,500 theaters tomorrow to capitalize on the Oscar exposure.

February 25, 2009

So you think you've already seen one of the gayest awards shows ever? That would be true if you were among the 36.3 million people who watched the "81st Annual Academy Awards" on Sunday. Thanks, Baz Luhrmann, "homo-loving" Academy voters and Broadway show tunes!

But no, there's plenty gayer, and we're not talking about the Tonys.

Basic cable Home of the Gays, Bravo, is getting ready for a second go-around of "The A-list Awards," hosted by infamous D-lister/Emmy owner Kathy Griffin. Last year, the show -- aside from being really, really gayrific -- served mostly as an infomercial for Griffin's caustic wit, a bunch of blue chip advertisers, and every pseudo-star from every Bravo reality show.

The 2009 nominees were just announced. There's an extensive -- really, too extensive -- list of categories that cover food, fashion, beauty, design and pop culture. Think some of those exist to supply the two-hour show with well-heeled sponsors? Naw, the Samsung Blu-Ray player, the new MacBook and the fourth generation iPod Nano just happen to be among the "A-list Innovation" choices.

And there's no star grab, either, with a category called "A-list Celebrity Restauranteurs." Ashton Kutcher, Eva Longoria Parker and Sandra Bullock will duke it out there.

February 24, 2009

The addition of young heartthrobs to the Oscar lineup looked, to most of us paying attention, like a desperate grab for viewers in the advertiser-coveted demographics. In other words, those 18 to 49 years old.

So did the "Twilight" hunk Robert Pattinson, singer Miley Cyrus and actors like Amanda Seyfried and the "High School Musical" kids serve that purpose? (Because, honestly, that could've been anybody presenting awards -- Pattinson and Seyfried -- and singing in an overstuffed musical number -- Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens).

Sunday's telecast of the "81st Annual Academy Awards" posted a "12.1 rating in adults 18 to 49, the second lowest in at least 20 years, beating only last year's 10.2 rating," according to the L.A.Times.

There could be far more effective or tangible ways to age-down this ceremony, says Carpetbagger, by giving young producers a shot at the job. More contemporary music, nods to digital culture. He even has the first suggestion: Stew from the rock-pop-funk band Negro Problem and brain trust behind the Tony-winning musical, "Passing Strange."

Some critics have said the Academy should just accept that the Oscars are becoming a niche show, even though the three-and-a-half-hour live program rated better than the recent premiere of "American Idol." We say, keep rejiggering the thing and maybe it'll get more interesting. It had to change, and change it did. That needs to be an ongoing commitment. Now, go and do more.

Jon Stewart was licking his wounds for two reasons last night -- first, he was passed over in favor of Hugh Jackman as host of the "81st Annual Academy Awards" and second, he picked "Space Chimps" to sweep the night.

Of all the rotten luck.

And then, his cohort John Oliver ripped apart Stewart's two-term Oscar hosting gig, calling him "the George W. Bush of comedy," leading the Academy to rip up the format and start over again in his wake. Jackman blazed in to play the Obama/hero role.

Poor Stewart. It wasn't his fault that Hollywood's A-listers completely turned on him in his second hosting turn last year. But boy did they, refusing to connect on any level to his "ironic detachment." It's not the last we expect to see of comedians at the Academy Awards podium, but it may be a while before one returns. Depends on when Billy Crystal, Ellen DeGeneres or Tina Fey is available.

February 23, 2009

So what, it ate up 10 minutes of valuable real estate, caught Shirley MacLaine off guard (she didn't know Anne Hathaway could sing!) and launched an Oscar telecast that was kind of like the Tonys?

The opening bit of the "81st Annual Academy Awards" rocked, and so did Hugh Jackman. Vulture proclaimed, "Hugh Jackman Saves the Oscars!" based on this campy musical number, where the first-time host said what everyone was thinking about Biggest Snubee "The Dark Knight" -- what's so unsophisticated about a $1 billion boxoffice haul? -- and admitted he hadn't seen "The Reader." Neither had most of the people watching at home and quite likely a fair amount in the Kodak Theater.

Turned out that was just the first slag on the Holocaust drama, with a later skit from Seth Rogen and James Franco, in full-on "Pineapple Express" stoner mode, laughing uncontrollably as they watched an intense patently-unfunny clip of Kate Winslet and her young co-star David Kross. See it here.

Quick question: Wonder what Fox had to do to get that "Wolverine" plug at the end of Jackman's song? Talk about choice real estate.

We were tripped up by the best foreign film -- we thought for sure it would be awards hoarder "Waltz With Bashir" and not the Japanese undertaker tale "Departures" -- a couple of shorts and a tech category.

That's what kept us from having a perfect score on our Oscar predictions, but we still managed 19 out of 24. We'll gloat for only a few minutes, given that so many of the winners were not even close to being surprises.

In fact, that's probably why much of the talk today is about the "81st Annual Academy Awards" show itself rather than those who snagged Little Gold Men. Did anyone really believe that Kate Winslet would go home empty-handed a sixth time? Or that "Slumdog Millionaire" wouldn't melt Academy voters' hearts like it did everyone else's?

The winners did give a giant boost of confidence to the crippled indie film business and show us all the multiculti face of today's entertainment.

THR has extensive coverage of the kudos, backstage reaction from the winners, slideshows and more. Knock yourselves out.

Ratings for the "81st Annual Academy Awards" are coming in, and they look to be 13% better than last year, with some 36.3 million people tuning in to the live telecast.

So, that's not bad news for ABC and the Academy.

But the reviews are also in, and some of them are downright hateful. While Defamer has declared it "pretty darn gay," meaning that in a good way, and THR found it "a heartfelt, elegant and stylish affair that played with uncommon flair," the L.A. Times took issue with what the bitter critic called first-time host Hugh Jackman's "chorus boy spaz-out" and the "mini-mentoring sessions" as prior winners introduced current nominees.

Hey, we liked that part.

So did Brian Lowry at Variety, who found a number of high points but ultimately thought the overhauled show from the "Dreamgirls" team of Larry Mark and Bill Condon was "unlikely to expunge the Oscars' age lines or chart a new direction for the telecast."

Gold Rush commenter Mary thought Jackman hit it out of the park and Philippe Petit should be invited back every year but, like us, still finds the whole shebang butt-numbingly long.

"The truth is someone in the Oscar show editing room is going to have to drown some kittens if they really want me to have faith in the live show. They may find their time-wasting montages precious and irresistible but I don't! And, seriously, a pink slip to the person responsible for including a snippet of 'Nights of Rodanthe' in any portion of an Oscar broadcast. Quickly, my smelling salts!"

"Another strong recommendation: either cut the show to under three hours or start the damn thing earlier. Think of the Super Bowl, people! That baby goes on forever -- forever! -- yet viewers actually get to see the end of the game, regardless of their time zone, because the action begins at a realistic hour."

Now there's an idea -- the Super Bowl for Women learning something from the Super Bowl. When even the manly men at our party were digging the kudofest, we'd thought it was going rather swimmingly. We sure didn't sense a bomb.

Other suggestions for improvement out there? Reaction to the show? Let it fly.

It was the bit that made people miss comedians at the Oscars -- Tina Fey and Steve Martin bantering about the craft of writing films, jabbing at Scientology as "our religion ... that we made up," and obviously having a good time together while presenting screenwriting awards to Dustin Lance Black ("Milk") and Simon Beaufoy ("Slumdog Millionaire").

This video is obviously shot off TV, and at a vertigo-inducing angle at that, but it's worth watching if you didn't see this part (or any) of the "81st Annual Academy Awards" last night.

Could "Button" and "Slumdog" split the vote, allowing another film to take the prize? Doesn't seem likely. After having clung to "Button" for months as what we thought would be the Academy voters' top vhoice, our money's now on "Slumdog." Momentum can't be ignored.

Picture this

Mmmmm, chocolate Oscar. Not every star will walk away from the 81st annual Academy Awards with a trophy, but if they hit the high-profile Governor's Ball they can have pastry chef Sherry Yard's gold-dusted candy version. Also on the menu from celeb chef Wolfgang Puck is tuna tartare in sesame miso cones, chopped Chino Farms vegetable salad with ginger soy vinaigrette, Maine lobster and caviar. Serve it up! (Getty Images)